Regan, Under Fire, Comptroller Tends to Job, Not Image

By ELIZABETH KOLBERT, Special to the New York Times

Published: March 9, 1989

ALBANY, March 8—
In his 10 years as New York State Comptroller, Edward V. Regan has watched the fortunes of many elected officials rise and fall and, for the fortunate ones, rise again. The experience, he says, has helped him maintain perspective as his own political prospects recently began to dim.

''It's like the Greeks used to say: You never get too far ahead in life,'' Mr. Regan said in an interview. ''Somebody's always there - pow - just when you least expect it.'' 'Those Who Give Will Get'

For Mr. Regan, ''pow'' came last summer, when a memo urging him to reward campaign contributors with millions of dollars' worth of state business was revealed. The publication of the memo, written by one of the Comptroller's top aides and advocating a policy under which ''those who give will get,'' was promptly followed by investigations into Mr. Regan's campaign finances and subpoenas to the Wall Street concerns that do business with his office.

Suddenly, Mr. Regan, who, as the state's chief accountant has frequently had to fight to win attention, found himself drawn into the spotlight - this time unwillingly.

Sensing the Comptroller's political vulnerability, union leaders began a campaign to oust Mr. Regan as sole trustee of the state's $38 billion pension fund, a position from which he derives much of his power. Governor Mario M. Cuomo named a committee to evaluate the Comptroller's use of pension funds to support leveraged buyouts. And the Commission on Government Integrity performed an analysis of Mr. Regan's campaign that showed he had received more than 60 percent of his campaign contributions from the financial industry, compared with less that 10 percent for other statewide officials.

Throughout the investigations - one by the Manhattan District Attorney is still under way - the Comptroller has denied any wrongdoing. He has insisted that so much of his campaign support comes from members of the financial industry simply because they are the only ones who care about who the comptroller is and what he does. Many of his contributors have supported this contention.

But by most accounts, including those of his supporters, Mr. Regan, the only statewide Republican official in state government, has not managed to mount an effective public-relations campaign to counter a barrage of bad publicity that has emboldened his critics and left him politically damaged.

Mr. Regan acknowledges this criticism in a wistful tone. After 10 years in office, he still seems surprised by the enthusiasm with which his critics have seized upon his discomfiture. He says he receives frequent calls from friends urging him to adopt a tougher stance, to answer fewer questions, to divert attention from the allegations. But he tends to dismiss this advice. Staff of 2,200 ''My policy is to answer all questions, all inquiries fully, completely and responsibly,'' he said. ''My attitude is, 'Here I am, I haven't done a thing.' ''

The Comptroller oversees a staff of 2,200 that is responsible for reviewing thousands of state contracts and auditing the books of dozens of state agencies and programs. His office issues frequent reports pointing out waste and mismanagement throughout state and local government. Just this week, Mr. Regan's office issued a report warning of a growing budget gap in New York City.

A trim man with a square jaw and a wide smile, Mr. Regan, 58 years old, is in many ways the ideal political candidate. He was twice elected Erie County Executive before winning his current job. But he has a stiff, reserved manner that rarely warms a crowd. And associates say he is disdainful of the kind of political back scratching that wins friends in Albany.

Many officials say that Mr. Regan's current difficulties reflect a broader image problem. Despite a reputation for sound financial judgment, they say, the Comptroller is frequently dismissed by other public officials as ineffectual. Reports Are Ignored

''Many of his reports are simply ignored,'' said Hyman Grossman, a managing director at Standard & Poor's, who praised the Comptroller's record.

Mr. Regan, he added, has never emerged from the shadow of his predecessor, Arthur Levitt, who retired after 24 years in office. ''Arthur Levitt was, you might say, revered,'' Mr. Grossman said. ''Ned Regan is not revered.''

Mr. Regan keeps by his desk a photo of Mr. Levitt, who defeated him in his first bid for comptroller in 1970. But he is eager, when possible, to direct the conversation to the accomplishments of his own tenure.

He sounds the a theme at banquet halls from New York City to Buffalo, where he compares himself to a garbage collector who sits on the back stoop of government, cleaning up the financial messes that other officials - particularly legislators - have tried to toss down the stairs.

Mr. Regan is particularly proud of the ''fiscal reforms'' he helped initiate in the early 1980's, when the state adopted a new accounting method that forced it to budget for expenses in the same year they were incurred. Recently, he has warned against the kind of ''backsliding'' that he sees in the state's current budget gap. Above-Average Earnings

The Comptroller also boasts about the performance of the pension fund under his stewardship.